202 PECULIARITIES IN THE ABDOMEN OF THE FCETUS. 



National Institute of France. It is a flap or apron, four inches in length, 

 which is united to the external labia near their upper angle, and hangs down 

 before the clitoris and the external orifice of the parts of generation. It is 

 divided below into two lobes, which cover the orifice. It is formed by a soft 

 distensible skin, free from hair, which is occasionally corrogated like the 

 scrotum, and is rather more florid than the ordinary cutis.* This is the 

 tablier, or mere natural enlargement of the nymphse, common to the females 

 of some races of men. 



The Abdomen of the Foetus. 



The difference between the Foetus and the adult, in the cavity 

 of the abdomen, is very conspicuous at the first view. 



The Liver in the foetus is so large that it occupies a very con- 

 siderable part of the abdomen. Its left lobe, which is larger in 

 proportion than the right, extends far into the left hypochondriac 

 region. 



The Bladder of urine, when filled, extends from the cavity 

 of the pelvis a considerable distance towards the umbilicus : 

 so that the greatest part of it is in the cavity of the abdomen. 

 A ligament of a conical figure extends from the centre of the 

 upper part of the bladder to the umbilicus, with an artery on 

 each side of it, which is soon to be described. This ligament, 

 which is in the situation of the urachus of the foetus of quad- 

 rupeds, is hollow, and thus frequently forms a canal, which 

 has a very small diameter, that communicates with the bladder 

 by an aperture still smaller, and continues a short distance from 

 the bladder towards the umbilicus. In a few rare instances, this 

 canal has extended to the umbilicus, so that urine has been 

 discharged through it, but the ligament is commonly solid there. 



The Stomach appears to be more curved in the foetus than in 

 the adult. 



The Great Intestine does not extend sufficiently far, beyond 

 the insertion of the ileon, to form the caecum completely. 



The Glandules Renales are much larger in proportion in the 

 foetus than in the adult. The color of the fluid they contain 

 is more florid. 



The Kidneys are lobulated. 



* This paper has not yet been published by the Institute, but it is referred to 

 by M. Cuvier in his Le<jonesd' Anatomic Comparee, vol. v. page 124. Messrs. 

 Peron and Lesueur were naturalists who accompanied captain Baudin in his 

 voyage of discovery : the latter has been for some years resident in Philadelphia. 



